The Burke County Sheriff’s Office reports that they have been made aware of a scam. A local business contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report that a scammer is using their name to scam their customers. The business reports that someone called a customer, representing themselves as the owner of the business.
The scammer further stated he had gotten into an accident and was charged with a DUI and was letting the customer know that he would not make a meeting that had been scheduled Wednesday (October 23). The scammer further stated he paid his bail and then asked the customer to loan him $4,000 to $5,000, which is what he had to pay out of pocket for his bail.
The customer recognized it as a scam, hung up on the caller and reached out to the business to advise them of what had happened. If you receive a call from someone representing themselves to be from a business and it seems suspicious, hang up and look up the business’ phone number independently from caller ID or any information provided by the caller. Then contact them directly to verify the legitimacy of the call you received. The Sheriff’s Office says there is nothing wrong with independently verifying information you receive and a legitimate business will not fault you for doing so.
More on Scam Warning Issued By Burke Sheriff’s Office available on WHKY.
